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The regional power authority in Memphis, Tennessee, has approved a request for enough energy to power a small city. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company will use that energy for a massive supercomputer. This project came together quickly and surprised many neighbors. NPR's Dara Kerr reports.
DARA KERR, BYLINE: To get to xAI's supercomputer facility, I drive down a flat road just off the Mississippi River. I'm with KeShaun Pearson, who grew up in a neighborhood nearby.
KESHAUN PEARSON: And so here we are.
KERR: The xAI building spans the length of more than a dozen football fields. Semitrucks come and go. Construction workers are everywhere. Pearson points to a row of methane gas generators, each about the size of a bus.
PEARSON: Look at how the smoke is rising. You can see the light bending. These generators are going 24/7, emitting toxic air pollution 24/7.
KERR: He heads a nonprofit called Memphis Community Against Pollution. They've counted at least 18 of these generators, which currently don't have air permits. Because the generators are mobile, the county health department says it can't issue permits. So NPR reached out to the Environmental Protection Agency. It says it's reviewing concerns raised about the air quality and is working with the health department to ensure compliance with regulations. XAI needs enough electricity to power 100,000 homes. Much of that electricity comes from burning fossil fuels.
PEARSON: The dissonance of having, essentially, the future of technology powered by fossil fuels just leaves me speechless, honestly.
KERR: Pearson grew up near here in a low-income, historically Black neighborhood in South Memphis. This area already has a lot of factories, smog and higher rates of cancer and asthma, as well as a lower life expectancy.
PEARSON: We don't get a break. This is where we live.
KERR: When xAI launched in Memphis last summer, it was a surprise to almost everyone. The news dropped during a press conference hosted by the city's chamber of commerce. The chamber's CEO, Ted Townsend, applauded what he called a multibillion-dollar deal.
TED TOWNSEND: If you take the two largest supercomputers in the world and you combine them, and you multiply that by four, that's what we're building here in Memphis.
KERR: The company is expected to generate around 300 jobs, but it's unclear if those are permanent or even located in Tennessee. XAI is based in California. Townsend says this project puts Memphis on the map.
TOWNSEND: I think it is a defining moment for Memphis to be recognized globally.
KERR: The mayor of Memphis told NPR that xAI is not getting any tax breaks, and the local utility said the company's electricity demand should not affect residents. The announcement shocked Yolanda Cooper-Sutton when she saw it on the evening news. She's the council member who represents the district where xAI is located.
What were your initial reactions?
YOLANDA COOPER-SUTTON: One word - wow. To have something that big and that major, it was very surprising not hearing it with the city council.
KERR: Elon Musk and representatives for xAI did not respond to NPR's request for comment. Musk has stayed completely out of the public eye in Memphis. Council member Cooper-Sutton says she asked to meet with him.
COOPER-SUTTON: And I'm still waiting.
KERR: Musk heavily campaigned for President-elect Donald Trump, and Trump has put him in charge of a commission to, quote, "dismantle government bureaucracy." Amanda Garcia is an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. She says that idea of sidelining bureaucracy is what she's witnessed with xAI in Memphis.
AMANDA GARCIA: XAI is able to come in here and just set up shop. It sends a message, right? You can just come here and not have to worry about the environmental consequences for people on the ground.
KERR: Back in the industrial zone, Pearson takes me to a park. It's named after Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in Memphis while helping to organize workers. We drive to the top of a hill, and through the trees, Pearson points to the nearby oil refinery. He says it's really noisy.
PEARSON: You can see their smoke towers. I'm going to raise the windows down a little bit.
KERR: You can smell it, too.
PEARSON: Immediately. Like, it's already starting to make my head hurt. I got to raise the window up. It's extremely disheartening that xAI would just come in and contribute even more to this burden.
KERR: Pearson says it doesn't have to be this way.
PEARSON: What type of society do we want to live in - one where Elon Musk decides or one where you have to include the community?
KERR: For now, he says, the community remains in the dark.
Dara Kerr, NPR News, Memphis, Tennessee. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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